So close at the top
14th June 2010
Leading the way
The penultimate Grand Prix of the current playing season visits Hereford over the weekend of Saturday the 19th and Sunday 20th of June and what a treat we are in for! Can Gavin Rumgay the reigning and three times Grand Prix Men’s Open Champion earn enough points at Hereford, then finally at Doncaster in three weeks time to overtake long time leader Damien Nicholls (at present just 7 points ahead) in the race to take the champion’s cheque for £1,750?
The Bribar sponsored Hereford spectacular will have a huge effect on determining the title race winner between Nicholls (S5) and Rumgay (S1). However, the fly in the ointment could come from third seeded Ricardo Walther, a previous junior world team championship finalist with Germany, or from in form England ranked at 3 player Chris Doran (S2). With Matt Ware (S4), John Murphy (S6) Norbert Tofalvi (S7) and Niall Cameron (S8) all in the mix and fighting for the winner’s cheque of £305, they will certainly add that extra sparkle to an intriguing contest.
The Women’s Open top seed is Naomi Owen from Wales and she will prove very hard to beat and is a worthy favourite to pick up the winner’s cheque for £175. Emma Vickers the number 3 seed is the only player who has played in enough qualifying events that can make up vital ground on points tally leader Egle Adomelyte (who is not in the Hereford line up). The top four players include Karina Le Fevre (S2) and Hannah Hicks (S4) all eager to do well and challenge for the prize money at stake.
The Grand Prix points tally so far is listed below with the players stated already having played the qualifying five major Grand Prix’s with their tally in brackets.
Men’s Open.
1. Damien Nicholls (401) 2. Gavin Rumgay (394) 3. Matt Ware (273) 4. Niall Cameron (237) 5.Mark Simpson (144) 6. Wilson Huart (143).
Women’s Open.
1. Egle Adomeylte (219) 2. Emma Vickers (136) 3. Annabelle Morle (37) 4. Emily Standing (2)
Men’s Band 1.
1. Matt Ware (161) 2. Mark Simpson (133) 3. Niall Cameron (105) 4. Tom Maynard (88) 5. Patrick Thomas (83) 6. Jonathan Crawford (76).
Women’s Band 1.
1. Annabelle Morle (45) 2. Gosia Muda (15).
Men’s Band 2.
1. Tomasz Rzestotko (148) 2. Jojo Senorin (88) 3. Lloyd Gregory (69) 4. Wayne Mason (59) 5. Eddie Famberly (36) 6. Billy Pegg (33).
Women’s Band 2.
1. Annabelle Morle (87) 2. Gosia Muda (76) 3. Emily Standing (33).
Men’s Band 3.
1. Eddie Famberly (124) 2. Wayne Mason (89) 3. Anthony Johnson (73) 4. Andy Hodges (71) 5. Scott Cundy (70) 6. Dean Cundy (62).
Women’s Band 3.
1. Emily Standing (78).
Men’s Band 4.
1. Lewis Williams (136) 2. Daniel Fielding (130) 3. Lee Morgan (119) 4. Ernest Mpundu (91) 5. Scott Cundy (79).
Men’s Band 5.
1. Matt Lancey (134) 2. Lee Morgan (113) 3. Anthony Constantinou (91) 4. Dave Fox (77) 5. Edd Slot (75) 6. Rick Beattie (70).
Men’s Band 6.
1. Rick Beattie (63) 2. Dean Cundy (32) 3. Matthew Knott (29) 4. Andy Larner (10).
Under 21 Men.
1. Damien Nicholls (360) 2. Matt Ware (277) 3. Mark Simpson (128) 4. Tom Maynard (103) 5. Lyoyd Gregory (90). 6. Scott Crawford (67).
Under 21 Women.
1. Emma Vickers (195) 2. Annabelle Morle (39) 3. Emily Standing (4)
Veteran’s.
1. Julien Gittens (108) 2.Dave Randall (84) 3. David Waddington (29) 4. Andy Larner (0)
Restricted.
1. Jonathan Crawford (165) 2. Billy Pegg (66) 3. Rory Scott (41) 4. Phil Marshall (13).
We look forward to greeting you at the Hereford Leisure Centre in Holmer Road, Hereford HR4 9UD on Saturday the 19th of June for the start of this 2 day event.
May the nets and edges- be with you?
By Geoff Ware
Comments on this post
Thanks for your comments Ade- however I strongly disagree with your remarks- firstly with a total of £13,300 prize money on offer for the end of season points tally winners, plus at total of £1,050 at each of the twelve GP events, I would say the competitors are there for the money, plus the excellent competition, and the reward of ranking points too!
With regard to the Women’s prize money, it would be unfair for the Men paying their entry fee to subsidise the the Women- in terms of numbers at Hereford there are just 25 Women entries compared with 75 Men and this is the case with all of the Grand Prix’s where the Men’s entry is 3 x that of the Women!
On the point of sponsorship- you try getting it- goodness knows I have been trying for 5 years now with very little response!!
posted 14.06.10 by geoff ware
It is in fact equal prize money for men and women, it is done as a percentage of entrees, so with the same number of entrees the prize money would be the same and on the off chance of the women’s entrees being higher than the men, they would take home more money! I hope that clears it up.
posted 15.06.10 by james.cornford
Why is it calculated that way? Because of the fewer entries, the women get less matches for their money, therefore less value for the entry fee they pay…maybe they should be ‘compensated’ for the lack of matches by increased prize money.
posted 17.06.10 by Linda March
Geoff. i am indeed aware of your work on behalf of our sport.. and yes sponsorship is difficult. And indeed the lack of entries of the ladies is a worry. I do wish to see an increase in the number of ladies playing this sport and i hope the recently announced government initiative to re-introduce competitive sport back in to schools will make a difference.
I do think that the prize money is not the main factor for competing but the ranking points..
posted 28.06.10 by Ade Akinboyewa
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i think it can be safely said that the players are not battling it out for the money! Personally i think it is tragic that the winner of the ladies only gets £175.This must be an error.. what happened to equal pay for the ladies? given the cost of the hotels, transport and dining out. Why can’t we get sufficient money to make the top prize for ladies around £5k. I wonder is there a market stragety to get funding and sponsorship from abroad..
sigh .. my sport.. ..a pauper amongst sports
posted 14.06.10 by Ade Akinboyewa